Reason to do at home daycare

You might be wondering what would possess a women in her mid 20's Start a daycare? Well, the obvious reason is that I wanted to stay home with my daughter. I grew up in a family (like so many Americans) where my mom had to work in order to keep food on the table. That meant that I was in daycare as a baby and as I got older I was a latch key kid. After school programs weren’t popular in my neighborhood so I spent most days at home watching tv. Not saying that my mom didn’t do a good job, but I want more than that for my daughter. So that’s why I decided to retire from the rat race and open up my own daycare. It was so easy and I didn’t need any money to start up. I advertised on craiglist.com and within 2 months I had 4 kids and I was making $500 more each month than when I had a fulltime job at $12.50/hr.
Here are my top 5 reasons why I started my daycare and I encourage other moms to:

Reason #1—You get to stay at home with your kids.

While I’m sure there will be days when you will wonder why you even had the little boogers, staying at home with your kids tops this list. I sure didn’t want my daughter to be raised by another caregiver. I think that America has gotten away from some of our core values about family and replaced them with the desire to attain more money. While money is good, gaining it at the sacrifice of your child’s well-being is not. That is not to say that a child cannot grow up well in a daycare setting because I know there are a lot of good daycares out there. But there just has not been enough research to show the actual effect of daycare on kids. I mean, most kids in daycare are away from their parents for 8-10 hours a day. And from the standpoint of a young child, that is a looong time. From my experience, the kids that I keep seem troubled by the separation. Sure, we have fun and play…but that is nothing compared to the smiles they get on their face when their mom comes to pick them up. I am so glad that I am able to stay at home with my daughter and be there for all of her milestones.

Reason #2—"The man" is off of your back

There is nothing like being an entrepreneur. You get to set your own hours, set your rate of pay, and if you want to walk around in your pjs all day--you can! The freedom that comes from owning your own business and being your own boss is awesome. I love that I can wake up and do whatever I want with my day. I get to decide if we go for walks, do arts and crafts, and just veg out and have a movie day.

Reason #3—You get to shape the future

Working with kids is a job that lets you literally shape the future of the world. If you were lucky enough, you may have had some adults that had a good influence on you as a kid. I am sure you still remember many of the lessons they taught you. This job allows you to a role model, a teacher, and a friend all bundled into one. I have developed a close relationship with my daycare kids. I also try to teach them things that will stick with them far after they leave my care. I know that they will face battles in life, and it feels good to know that something that I am instilling in them at a young age might help them or their children in the future.

Reason #4—You get to slow down

Although I didn’t start my daycare for this reason, having a daycare has taught me this important lesson. Before having my daughter I spent so much time running from one task to another without ever really taking time to slow down and live in the moment. I was always worried about what I was going to do next. Being at home all day allows you to slow down and live a much more casual lifestyle. Being at home has also helped me tune in to what is important in my life....and I realized that running around like a chicken with my head cut off everyday was not one of them.

Reason #5–The tax benefits

You get to write off so many things!! Literally everything that you by for your home can be deductible–groceries, mortgage, rent, new cars, electricity, toys, cable, etc.
Need I say more?

Whether you want to watch a few kids in your home or build a child care center, owning a daycare is rewarding and even lucrative. I understand that not everyone has what it takes to own one though, but I still recommend that all moms get their own business and stop working for someone else and making them rich! Not interested in daycare? Click Here! for more information on business opportunities for moms.

Getting 3 babies to sleep--Sleep problems solved

Well, now that I've been doing this for awhile I guess that you could say that I'm a baby sleep expert. I don’t have to tell you that taking care of 3 babies is tough. Shoot, taking care of 1 baby is tough. I have to admit that my first few months were tough. There were many times when I thought "What have I gotten myself into?" I never had a moment to myself because they were all on different schedules. If I got lucky they would be asleep for 5 minutes at the same time. So maybe I’m putting it light by saying it was tough!

So what did I do? Well, being the researcher that I am I started looking up information about the sleeping habits of infants and I found The Baby Sleep Solution. I knew that if those kids didn’t give me a break I was going to lose it. Now that I think about that was probably the cause of some of my depression too. Can you imagine it? Feeding, changing diapers, and entertaining kids all day long without even a 15 minute break. Well I can! I’m sure some other moms out there can too. So I’m providing some information that might help you or someone you know who could use a break….or better yet a good night’s sleep.

Problem #1.
Feeding your baby to sleep

Well Rainee was feeding one of the babies a bottle of milk at naptime at the mom’s request. Research suggests that this isn’t a good habit because you could be creating a problem with the baby’s sleep pattern by doing this. I found that once I eliminated the bottle before naptime she slept soooo much better. I attribute that to the fact that the her stomach wasn’t so full and she didn’t have gas. Also, sometimes if I feed her right before she would go to sleep she would wake up within 20 minutes because she pooped! And she was one who did not like having poop on her bottom for one second.
I think a bottle can be more of a crutch for parents then it is for a baby anyway. Sometimes we just want a quick fix so that we can have a break. But by giving a baby a bottle to fall asleep you create a pattern of falling asleep with a bottle in their mouth, so if the baby wakes up she might not be able to fall back asleep on her own.
So how did I solve the problem? Well, I changed the time that I fed her before her nap. I made sure I fed her at least ½ an hour earlier, giving her plenty of time to digest and poop. This also helped her to disassociate the bottle with naptime and helped her to fall asleep faster and more soundly.

Problem #2
What’s in your milk?

This particular problem was one I was having my own daughter Zion, whom I breastfeed. As a breastfeeding mom, everything that you drink or eat will affect your breast milk. If you do not eat the correct amount of foods and calories daily, your breast milk is greatly affected. Well, I am admittedly a recovering sweets-a-holic and I love spicy foods!

My research led me to a shocker….that I was the cause of my daughter’s horrible sleep issues. She tossed and turned and just never seemed to settle down. She also passed gas a lot. So I made it a point to improve my diet by first taking out gassy foods such as onions, broccoli, nuts, and even cutting back on dairy. Then….tada! She slept like a sleeping beauty. No more tossing and turning or stinky toots.
Just a side note….if you’re breastfeeding you want to be sure to drink lots of fluids so that you have enough milk for your baby. And if you’re suffering from a low milk supply, a bowl of oatmeal a day is an easy fix!

Problem #3
Stuff the solids down = more sleep?

Many people, like myself, believe that this will help--but studies have not associated any differecnes in the amont of sleep in babies who were fed by the breast and/or bottle and those who are fed solids. In fact, this has not been proven to help a baby to sleep at all. Generally, doctors do not recommend adding solid foods prior to six months of age. So of course in my care I had Aneas--a 2 month old cereal eater-- and Rainee--a 5 month old eating a jar of food and bottle at each meal. This was a tough one decision but I had to stop feeding Otis cereal. It gave him horrible gas and I told his mom that it was just too much for me to deal with so she should just give it to him at home. That helped him to sleep so much better when he was at my house too. I also had to be sure that I didn’t feed Rainee a jar of food before naps (to avoid the whole waking up and pooping episode). Instead I fed her a jar for breakfast and after her nap. She was fine and completed satisfied with bottles for the rest of the day.

If your baby is having sleep problems then take a look at The Baby Sleep Solution and download their 35 minute audio program that guarantees to solve your babies sleeping problem.

:Blows dust off of the keyboard: Cover your eyes! Wow it has been a while. So much has changed. Let's see. Right now I keep the same kids. Everyone is older now though. Zion and Rainee are 8 months, Aneas is 4 1/2 months, and Damien is still 2 1/2. I guess I even aged...I'm 25 now!

So I am getting good at this daycare business. Maybe God is prepping me to be a mother of twins or triplets! It feels like I have them when I have all three babies here. I realized that I had gotten into a little bit of a depression a few months back. I know that it is because I am so used to getting out of the house everyday and I was started to feel like a prisoner in my own home. So I finally solved my dilemma. One thing I did was start spending more time with God. I think that it is so amazing how spending even just a few minutes reading the Bible, praying or listening to a sermon changes my whole demeanor and outlook on things. Another thing I did was cut the tv off. I found that by watching less I’m able to get more done around the house—things like school work, house work and just spend more time with the kids. I feel way less drained at the end of the day too. Now that I don’t watch as much tv I read a lot more too. I love to read. Mostly I read non-fiction. I’m a research junkie. But lately I’ve gotten into reading fiction. I’m reading Groove by Geneva Holliday. It’s good so far…I was honestly hoping for a little bit more erotica to lift my post natal libido but…oh well.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The other thing I did was invest in a double stroller. God thank you! I found a cute slightly used Graco stroller on craigslist. What a great site! Anyway, we’ve started going out for 1 hour walks daily. Oh my what fresh air does for me and the kids! Being cooped up in my upstairs apartment was really really starting to, well…suck. Nothing like some good sunshine. Plus we meet so many people just walking around the neighborhood. It truly is an adventure. Now you might be wondering how I maneuver 3 infants and a toddler with a double stroller. Bunji cords are a great invention…just kidding :) Well so far I’ve only had two infants a day this week and little Damien walked along side me (which was really good at using up his energy). But, when there are 3 infants, my plan is to carry the youngest in a Mayawrap sling, put the other 2 infants in the stroller, and then let Damien walk alongside me. I’m thinking about getting him one of the kid leashes, even though I swore I’d never use one. I just think it’ll keep him safe. I know I will look very crazy, but I really don’t care. I really need to get outside daily.